


i won't be broken

by eonflute



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, F/F, Unresolved Emotional Tension, set after right behind you, stubborn lesbians try and fail to properly talk about their feelings but its ok theyre in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 11:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16764523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eonflute/pseuds/eonflute
Summary: Days have passed, and Beatrix’s body is still littered with burn marks and bruises.She tries to hide it, but they both know that Zeta can see through her flimsy façade. Her acting has never been able to fool Zeta. They know each other too well, and have for far too long to be able to pretend in front of one another, but for some reason it doesn’t stop Beatrix from trying.





	i won't be broken

“Bea, hold _still!_ ”

Despite her words, she still squeaks and tries to pry her arm free of Zeta’s grasp when she reapplies antiseptic to one of the blistered patches marring Beatrix’s skin.

“Z- _Zeta!_ ” she whines, her face scrunched up. “You really don’t have to, I’m fine— _ow…_ ”

“Oh, stop it,” Zeta grumbles. “We could’ve gotten this taken care of way sooner if you had thought to tell anybody! You’re still always trying to put on such a strong face, and look where that got you.”

“I didn’t think it was that big a deal!” Beatrix relaxes as Zeta bandages her wound with gauze and tape, only to stiffen and yelp again when she moves on to the next one.

“Don’t give me that!” Zeta says. “Just look at yourself! Honestly, it’s a miracle you didn’t collapse during that fight. And let’s not forget you’ve been avoiding me ever since. You know exactly how bad it is.”

Beatrix bites her lip.

“Plus, do you really think you can hide things from me?” Zeta’s voice softens a little bit as she folds another strip of gauze and presses it against Beatrix’s forearm. “Bea, I know you too well, and you know that. Of course I’m going to worry.”

“I know…but…” Beatrix shifts to sit up higher as she speaks. Zeta frowns, but as long as she’s not moving too fast or too recklessly, she won’t complain. “Zeta, you’re always worrying about me. You need to take care of yourself too, you know.” She glances meaningfully at Zeta’s hand, still bandaged after her skin grafts.

“Hey, I got that fixed long before you ended up like this,” she chides.

They settle into silence after that, and Zeta continues to treat Beatrix’s wounds one by one, dressing them with antiseptic and gauze and just slightly shaky hands.

They’d come far too close to losing this time. After her fiery outburst had worn off, it had finally sunk in to Zeta how close she’d come to losing Vaseraga—her partner, her teammate, her _friend._ Maybe it’s just leftover anxiety over the brass ordering his execution, but now it feels like fussing is the only thing she can do at all. That’s not even mentioning how bad Beatrix is about it: always rushing in headfirst, never stopping to think even once, always so sure she’s going to come out of it just fine in the end.

“Zeta! Are you okay?”

Beatrix’s voice snaps her back to reality, only to find that tears have started gathering at the corners of her eyes.

“I…” Zeta swipes at her eyes with the heel of her palm, furiously trying to keep herself on task. “For heavens’ sake, Bea, of course I’m not okay! How easy do you think it is for me to see you narrowly escape death over and over, only to rush right back in? You’re always trying so hard to prove yourself, and you never think about the consequences!”

“Zeta…you—”

“Hold on, I’m not done,” she says. “Bea, I just almost lost my partner. He’s one of my best friends. And you…we’ve known each other our whole lives. I’ve seen you at your weakest, and you’re _still_ trying to put on airs with me. Vaseraga tried to keep his suffering down, and you saw where that led us. If anything ever happened to you that took you away from me, permanently…I-I don’t know what I’d do…” She drags in a long, shaky breath. Crying is absolutely not her style, even in front of Beatrix.

For a moment, Beatrix doesn’t speak at all.

“I-I didn’t—Zeta,” she stutters out, wringing her hands. “I’m not gonna leave you alone. Of course I wouldn’t do that to you. You know that better than anyone!”

Zeta reaches for Beatrix’s fidgeting hands, clasping them in both of her own to keep them still. She can’t help her vice grip; she’s about to drown, and Beatrix’s touch is the only thing keeping her head out of the water.

“Yes, I do,” she says. Her voice feels a little raw, but she powers through anyways. Anything to make Beatrix understand. “And I also know you’re the only person in the sky more stubborn than me—and that’s terrifying. One of these days, you’ll run into a situation without thinking, just like always, and it’s going to be the last time you ever do that.” Zeta grips her hands even tighter, bringing them to her lips. Under normal circumstances, Beatrix in all her easily-flustered being would flinch away and yell, but this is not normal. Rarely does Zeta allow herself to be completely weak in front of Beatrix, who has always needed someone sturdy and strong to balance out her wild recklessness and fears. Now she whispers into the entanglement of her and Beatrix’s fingers, her voice soft. Vulnerable. Afraid.

“I can’t lose you, Bea.”

With that, Beatrix pulls her hands free from Zeta’s and brings them to rest on her shoulders, thumbs grazing the dip of her neck where it meets the shoulder. Her own voice trembles much more freely than Zeta’s.

“You won’t. Zeta, you won’t. We’re always gonna be together, no matter what!” She brings Zeta in for a hug, even though her hands are still shaking.

“Hah…isn’t that what I told _you_ when we were kids?” Zeta asks. Now that Beatrix’s face is buried against her collarbone, she stops blinking away the frustrated tears in her eyes and wraps her arms around Beatrix’s neck.

“Maybe!” She can feel Beatrix pronounce it, lips brushing softly along her clavicle.

“It’s weird to hear you comfort me, you know,” Zeta mutters. She brings a hand up to cradle Beatrix closer, but pauses when Beatrix herself shifts to bring their faces level with one another, noses just barely brushing.

“Well, yeah. You’re always protecting me.” Beatrix’s voice is quiet, earnest. “You never have to, but you do it anyways. Heh—always the heroic knight, aren’tcha? But right now I think you’re the one that needs protecting.”

“As if!” Zeta retorts—snapping back at any remark Beatrix makes is second nature to her. “Don’t try to make me forget what I was saying! This is about you and your recklessness!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll be more careful next time!” Beatrix whines. “Still…even knights need to let down their guards sometimes, don’t you? So you also need someone else to guard you while you’re like that!”

“And _you’re_ gonna protect _me_?” Zeta asks incredulously.

“Obviously!”

She wants to continue, bring this conversation out from its depths and back to their natural, easy banter where she cools down Beatrix’s hotheadedness. She wants so, so desperately to shake the cold that seeped into her stomach after defeating Neutronon and realizing how close her partner had come to dying.

She wants to feel strong again. Like she isn’t some powerless child, confronting forces she doesn’t fully understand, with friends who are just as vulnerable that she can’t always protect.

How does she tell Beatrix any of this?

As if in to calm down her racing mind, Beatrix presses a kiss to her cheek, followed by a slightly softer one, and then pulls away properly.

“You don’t have to protect me all the time, Zeta. I know you want to.” She grins as Zeta stops, mouth slightly agape to form a retort. “But I’m serious about being more careful next time, if it makes you feel better!”

“I mean…if that’s the best you can do for now, sure,” Zeta sighs.

“It is! I’m stuck in this bed already! What else do you want from me?”

“For you to stay alive, dummy.” Zeta taps Beatrix’s nose with her index finger, and finally extracts herself from the hug. “And get some rest. All that bandaging’s gonna go to waste if your body’s too tired to fix itself up!”

“Fine—but only if you stop nagging me for a minute and worry about yourself,” Beatrix huffs.

Zeta bites the inside of her cheek to muffle a comeback; Beatrix does have a point, even if part of it is deflecting worry from herself.

“If it’ll get you to sleep, then fine.” She presses her lips to Beatrix’s forehead. “I’ll leave it to you now.”

For now, maybe that’s the best thing she can do.

**Author's Note:**

> wow long time no published fic huh. first semester of college is doing a number on me.
> 
> never enough f/f and i have a lot of thoughts about these 2 that i wanna write on but this is the best i could get out pretty much...i really just wanted to post smth about them before the next society event even though i struggled to finish this.
> 
> anyways!! comments and kudos are always super appreciated i love you for reading this pls hit me up on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ironicblu) if you too love these girls or any girls aaaaaa


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